Old Coot in Norcross

Back to the Sixties

Revisado: 01-20-14

Would you listen to Escaping Innocence again? Why?

I might listen again, as I tend to read many books multiple times. It was certainly good enough to listen to again.

What other book might you compare Escaping Innocence to and why?

"On the Road" by Jack Kerouac, but from a different era and the main character is a bit younger. The theme of self-discovery is very similar, however.

What does Gary Kohler bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The way he brings different voices to different characters. Definitely something you would only get from listening to the book.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Most of the story brought back memories of that time period, as I would have been just a few years younger than the main character. Not sure there was on specific moment that moved me, but I could certainly relate to the main character.

Any additional comments?

Escaping Innocence (A Story of Awakening) Follows David Justin from early puberty to early manhood set in the backdrop of the early 1960's, a time that holds a special place in the hearts of us old coots. It's a funny, irreverent recounting of David's adventures in high school and beyond, as he pursues the one thing that almost every male of his age thinks about: getting a member of the opposite sex into bed. Along the way, we get to peek into David's struggles as tries to figure out relationships with his friends and, even more importantly, what it is he really wants to do with life. It touches on some of the important events that helped to define the sixties: the civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam, in particular. Somewhat surprisingly, there is no reference to the Kennedy assassination, but that is probably fine. The tone throughout is too light-hearted to get bogged down in that tragedy.

For those of us who lived through the sixties, this book will bring back many memories, most of them good. For those too young to have lived in that timeframe, or those who were too young to really remember it, it does a good job of capturing what it was like to be a young person during that time. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

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